A former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has dismissed Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike as a political emperor whose time will soon be up.

Messrs Lamido and Wike are both chieftains of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, albeit currently at cross purposes. The Rivers governor is up in arms against the party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar who is Mr Lamido’s ally.

Mr Lamido during an interview on Channels TV on Tuesday was asked if Mr Wike’s current stance could hurt the party’s chances in the 2023 elections.

“Please leave Wike alone. He has the right to do whatever he wants. He can give order if people in Rivers are slaves to him,” Mr Lamido retorted. “If they are his own slave, he can control them. Fair enough, he is their emperor let him give them order.”

“I saw him on TV the other day and I felt a little worried the way he (Wike) was talking because he was too bombastic,” he continued. “In the next eight months, Wike will be like me, in the same political dustbin of former governors.” 

Weeks ago, Mr Wike had described Mr Lamido as one of the “attack dogs” of the PDP presidential candidate.

The opposition party has been enmeshed in brouhaha since Mr Wike lost the party’s ticket to Mr Abubakar at the presidential primary election on May 28.

The crisis took a bad turn after Mr Atiku dumped Mr Wike to pick Delta governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, against the recommendation of a party committee that had put forward the Rivers governor.